The detained Vietnamese citizens are: Ma Kim Nguyen, 24, Tran Tan Loi, 23, Nguyen Trung Kien, 43, and Bui Van Quang, 28. The two Cambodian nationals are EK Xa Rit and Xuon Kim Bo, both aged 34, border guards in the Mekong Delta province of Long An, which borders Cambodia, said Saturday.

On May 26, police in Long An had arrested Tran Tuan Khanh, 30, as he passed through a border gate to enter Vietnam from Cambodia with a bag containing 20.8 kg of drugs, two K59 pistols, a Zoraki pistol, a magazine and 25 bullets.

Khanh admitted to the police he’d bought the guns and drugs from an unidentified person in Cambodia and intended to sell them in Vietnam.

Based on Khanh’s testimony, two days later border guards in Long An and Phnom Penh police officers raided two houses in Phnom Penh and detained the six suspects. They seized a total of 513 pills of drugs, 19 plastic bags containing synthetic drug tablets, two military-style guns, and 63 bullets, among other items.

Police are expanding the investigation into the cross-border drug trafficking ring.

Vietnam has closed borders with southwestern neighbor Cambodia and suspended entry as well as all cross-border activities since April due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, many Vietnamese have recently been caught illegally entering the country through checkpoints and trails.

Vietnam has some of the harshest punishments for drug trafficking, awarding death to those convicted of possessing or smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine and to those producing or selling 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics.

However, this does not seem to have had a deterrent effect, with increasing drug trafficking cases coming to light in recent years.